1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a housing container for an implant fixture to house a dental implant fixture used in a dental implant treatment.
2. Description of the Conventional Art
One of recently prevailing dental prosthesis treatments is a dental implant treatment in which a dental implant fixture made of titanium or a titanium alloy having excellent biocompatibility is embedded in a jawbone at a lost tooth position, and is used instead of a natural dental root through a direct bond with the bone (osseo-integration). The dental implant fixture used in the dental implant treatment is configured separately from an abutment for fixing a dental prosthesis, or is configured integrally with the abutment.
The dental implant fixture is strongly required to be sanitary because of being embedded in a jawbone. Thus, a housing container for an implant fixture to house a dental implant fixture until being used it is also strongly required to have high sealability to secure a sterilized condition.
As for a housing container for an implant fixture capable of securing a sterilized condition and having high sealability, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-284145 discloses a housing container in which a housing main body is made of a titanium material, which is a same material as that of the dental implant fixture, in order to make impurities hardly adhere to the dental implant fixture. However, since this housing container for an implant fixture has the housing main body made of a titanium material, there is a problem of wasting titanium resources when considering a fact that the housing container for an implant fixture is a disposable.
Japanese translation of PCT Publication No. 2000-512194, Japanese Translation of PCT Publication No. 2004-526530, and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-125982, for example, disclose housing containers for an implant fixture to solve the aforementioned problem. The housing container for an implant fixture has a housing main body made of a resin, and houses a dental implant fixture by engaging a fixture mount in advance with an intraoral side end portion of a dental implant fixture and hanging the dental implant fixture with the fixture mount. In this housing container for an implant fixture, the dental implant fixture is hung with the fixture mount, and an outer surface of the dental implant fixture is not in contact with an inner surface of the housing main body. Thus, the housing main body has advantages that it does not need to be made of titanium, and the dental implant fixture is hardly damaged during conveyance. However, there are problems that this housing container for an implant fixture needs many parts for hanging the dental implant fixture and in addition, since the fixture mount needs to be removed after the dental implant fixture is embedded, it takes much time and work.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-243127 and Japanese Translation of PCT Publication No. 2004-510541, for example, disclose housing containers for an implant fixture to solve the aforementioned problems. The housing container for an implant fixture includes a holder part in a housing main body instead of a fixture mount, and houses a dental implant fixture by holding an intraoral side end portion of the dental implant fixture with the holder part. In these housing containers for an implant fixture, the intraoral side end portion of the dental implant fixture is held with the holder part, and an outer surface of the dental implant fixture is not in contact with an inner surface of the housing main body. Thus, the housing main body has advantages that it does not need to be made of titanium, and the dental implant fixture is hardly damaged during conveyance. In addition, the housing container for an implant fixture has an advantage that it does not use a fixture mount, and thus the dental implant fixture can be directly taken out by a tool. However, there is a problem that, since holder part holds the intraoral side end portion of the dental implant fixture, when the dental implant fixture is taken out from the holder part, an outer surface of the dental implant fixture could be damaged because of scraping against the holder part. Further, in the housing container for an implant fixture, there is a problem that an outer diameter of a collar part provided at the intraoral side end portion of the dental implant fixture should be bigger than an outer diameter of an embedding portion in order to hold the dental implant fixture with the holder part, and thus the housing container for an implant fixture cannot house a dental implant fixture having the outer diameter of the collar part which is equal to the outer diameter of the embedding portion.